If you've seen one, you've seen them all.

Okay. So, I want to take a little moment out of my usual routine to get really excited about a movie coming out this year. My only possible reservation in being totally thrilled is that I'm not sure if it ends happily. Looking at the trailer, I can see it go either way. I hope it's a happy ending, because if it is, this may just be perfect for me. If it doesn't, well, then I guess it will be almost-perfect. Anyway, the movie is The Artist. It is, I believe, a French movie and deals with the transition from silent films to sound. If I'm not mistaken, the movie is done entirely in black and white and is a silent! How exciting!! Here's the thing too: even if it isn't a silent, it gets major props in my book for having a silent trailer. Check this out:



Doesn't that look completely and totally amazing?! I'm so excited! I can barely contain it! And I have to wait until November to see it. Ugh. Can't wait. What do you think?

Look at her now: she's a go-gal, who only goes for me

I love this movie! And the dancing in this movie is incredible! And this scene - perfection. Okay, so some of the steps are really weird, but that's part of the fun. Although I'm not that great of a dancer, one of my dream roles would be to play Zaneeta Shinn ("ye gods!").

From this point on, I'll use every means in my power to fight you.

This scene is amazing! And I enjoy this picture. And I enjoy him.

"How could ignorance be compared to bliss?"

Last week's quote was: "When I find out what that means, I'll come back with a crushing reply," which is from White Christmas. The quote before it (one of my favorites in the film) is: "My dear partner, when what's left of you gets around to what's left to be gotten, what's left to be gotten won't be worth getting whatever it is you've got left." Brilliant!

This week's quote: "How could ignorance be compared to bliss?"

Who's Clark Gable?

I watched a delightful movie a little while back and I've been dying to review it so I think I'll include it in my much neglected 100 movies list:

#38 It’s Love I’m After (1937)

The movie stars Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, Olivia de Havilland, Patric Knowles. The plot is a little confusing, but here goes: Basil Underwood (Leslie Howard) and Joyce Arden (Bette Davis) have procrastinated their marriage often but when Henry Grant (Patric Knowles) arrives and asks Basil to pretend to be a cad to his fiancée, Marcia West (Olivia de Havilland), so as to end her infatuation with him. Basil, in a moment of self-conscious heroism, agrees to help. Naturally, however, Joyce does not agree with him on how heroic his help is.

The performances were fantastic! I’ve always loved Leslie Howard, but have difficulty watching him because he is in so many dramas and I prefer comedy. I find him completely fascinating. He's such an amazing actor and he has this incredible intensity that I just love to watch. If anyone has any other good Leslie Howard films that are my style (you know, light and fun) other than Pygmalion and The Scarlet Pimpernel, please let me know! Anyway, I stumbled upon this movie and only five minutes in, I was smitten. Leslie Howard is side-splitting as a pompous and self-infatuated actor. Bette Davis is adorable. Olivia de Havilland has a flair for playing a madcap heiress and she’s at her comedic best in this one. I adored Eric Blore. He and Leslie Howard were brilliant together. I think Patric Knowles is a grossly underrated actor and he’s great again in this one. I was dying!!

It’s definitely on my wishlist now. Can’t wait to own it.

I tried to look up some trivia but didn't find much, other than the fact that Bette Davis resented being billed second to Leslie Howard (not surprising).

Here is one of my favorite scenes in the movie. It starts at five minutes. Feel free to skip ahead to the scene or treat yourself to the entire movie if you have the time. I intend to buy it because I'd like to reward Warner Bros for selling their archive collection by investing it. Also, the watermark is a big pain.

All of the photos in this post are from Doctor Macro.

Yeah, but the gym's neutral territory.

I'm actually not a crazy huge fan of West Side Story - nothing against the movie but it's not my favorite plot line of all time and it's horribly depressing. But. The music and the dancing - brilliant. Whenever I watch movie tributes like That's Dancing! they include "Cool." I agree that that dance is amazing but it's not my favorite. My favorite is, without a doubt, the Dance at the Gym. And since YouTube will not allow me to embed it, just click the photo.

Just west of Pittsburgh, babe.

I love this picture! This scene cracks me up every time!

The dress is nice.

So, my good friend, and one of my favorite bloggers ever, Kate Gabrielle has been doing a segment called Posh Frock Friday for some time now that I absolutely adore. I finally decided to join in the fun - despite the fact that I really don't like taking pictures of myself and I never, ever post photos of myself on my blog. But, here goes.

the dress - Shabby Apple
the shoes - Payless

P.S. I would like to note that the photos in the background are the larger portion of my growing Flapper Doodle collection. I have a few more that I have yet to put up. These are also thanks to Kate Gabrielle so I thought it quite appropriate to use them as my background, don't you agree?

"When I find out what that means, I'll come back with a crushing reply."

Last week's quote: "It was written by a Latin, a gondolier who sat in his home out in Brooklyn and gazed at the stars" was from Top Hat. The song, "The Piccolino" was written by Irving Berlin and sung by Ginger Rogers.

This week's quote is: "When I find out what that means, I'll come back with a crushing reply."

Bonus points to whoever knows the line before this one!

Is that your message for the day?

Exciting news!! I just got featured in emma wallace's podcast Emma Wallace's Rose-Colored Radio Show. I've been loving these podcasts and it is super exciting to be featured in one! Check it out!

Also, I just received an award from three different bloggers!! Yippee!! More on that later because I definitely like to pass awards on - that's part of the fun!

It's a miracle of the Space Age.

Okay, so I know I don't often do this but I'm going to post a video of one of my all-time favorite contemporary movies and, actually, one of my all-time favorite movies ever. The movie is Down with Love and it is absolutely, side-splittingly hilarious. I've written about it before. I wrote a review of it for my list of 100 favorite movies and I also compared it to a couple of classic films because it's really an homage to the 50's/60's sex comedies of Rock/Doris and Tony/Natalie fame. This is one of my favorite scenes in the movie. The banter is so funny and I think these two actors (David Hyde Pierce and Ewan McGregor) have very good chemistry together. All of their scenes in this movie are just gold. Anyway, here is the scene. Just to warn you, this movie, and this scene in particular, contain a significant amount of sexual humor - all done in good taste, but if that sort of humor offends you, you may not enjoy the clip.

Though I know you're perfectly swell...

I confess, I've been a little obsessed with Marilyn lately. I can't get over her songs. I've been listening to them on repeat all week!!

I'm just an old load of hay.

Loretta Young is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful actresses that ever lived. Isn't she just perfection?


Photo is from Doctor Macro.

"It was written by a Latin, a gondolier who sat in his home out in Brooklyn and gazed at the stars."

Last week's quote: "All right. I give up. What is it? The headlight of a locomotive?" was from Kiss Me Kate.

This week's quote is: "It was written by a Latin, a gondolier who sat in his home out in Brooklyn and gazed at the stars."

New fish. Same hook.

So, I thought of an idea for a new segment today. I'm not sure how well it will work. And, to be honest, I'm not sure how often I'll do it, but it's worth a shot, right?

I was got the idea from listening to Marilyn Monroe's rendition of "Lazy" in There's No Business Like Show Business. Whenever I think of that song, I automatically think of Bing Crosby's rendition in Holiday Inn. I think it's kind of funny how the same song can be presented in so many different ways. Even when it's presented in a similar way, it can have a different effect. So, I thought I'd start a new series (that will be just as sporadic as my other series) that will compare songs covered by different performers. The trouble with this new segment is that I already have some songs in mind and two of them (today's included) involve a Marilyn Monroe song, which is pretty difficult to compare to anyone else because she kind of automatically makes everything sexy and that's hard to compare. And then I have a lot of Bing Crosby (today's included) which is also hard because he had a very particular style. But then, that's kind of the point. So, onward.

Today, I'll be showcasing two renditions of "Lazy" by Irving Berlin. The first, sung by Bing Crosby in Holiday Inn. This one is done in Bing's crooning style and is given an ironic, comedic twist. I never realized, listening to this version, how beautiful the tune is because I was too busy laughing at (and feeling sorry for) him in this montage. Just the same, this is a great version because this is one of the first scenes I think of when I think of this movie.

Bing, being lazy.

Marilyn, being lazy.

The second, sung by Marilyn Monroe in "There's No Business Like Show Business." I don't really understand why they threw the Donald O'Connor and Mitzi Gaynor into the mix, but since I like them together so much, I don't mind. Marilyn's delivery of this song is, obviously, very different. The way she draws out every word and every note makes the song much sexier and also, in my opinion, showcases the tune a bit more. While we are distracted by the way she's lounging on that couch, it fits so well with what's she's singing that I notice the song itself a bit more. But what I find funny about this version is that this song isn't necessarily sexy but Marilyn manages to make it so. P.S. I wish I could pull of Marilyn's outfit.



Both pictures were found on Doctor Macro.

Somewhere between a healthy Winesap and unripened Johnathon

Myrna Loy is, in my opinion, one of the best comedic actresses that ever lived. And this (much talked of) scene is among her (many) best. She's so darn cute!

"All right. I give up. What is it? The headlight of a locomotive?"

Last week's quote was: "Think of my life-long sorrow... if you caught pneumonia and died" which was from "Baby, It's Cold Outside" from Neptune's Daughter. The song was written by Frank Loesser and performed, in the film, by Esther Williams and Ricardo Montalban and, later, Betty Garrett and Red Skelton.

Well done to amz and to emma wallace for correctly identifying it! Also, well done to MC for correctly guessing the quote from Roberta. And to terryhogan for correctly identifying the one from The Harvey Girls. And also to Amanda Cooper for getting the one from On the Town. Hooray!! You're all wonderful!

This week's quote is:

"All right. I give up. What is it? The headlight of a locomotive?"

We're after the same rainbow's end.

So, first on the agenda for today is a little shameless plug for myself and then another plug for someone else. Hooray!!

First, is a new video I made - this one's a tribute to the oh-so-lovely Audrey Hepburn.



I hope enjoyed it! Now, on a similar subject - as you may or may not have noticed, that song was performed by my good friend Emma Wallace. I'm not sure how many of you follow her blog but she has, for some time, spoiled us all with some really wonderful song sketches. Now, she's offering a really exciting opportunity: to be among the first to join a song sketch subscription service. How exciting is that!? It's an incredibly good deal: $4 a month for a weekly song sketch - basically the equivalent of a weekly iTunes purchase (and, in many cases, cheaper). Except that it's an exclusive song that only a small and lucky few will have the opportunity to enjoy. For full details, visit her blog here. She only needs a dozen more people to sign up before she meets her goal, so the sooner you sign up, the sooner we'll get our song sketches.

In Roger's flick, it, like, rains.

I'm afraid this is quite belated. I was supposed to have this up on Monday but I hadn't written my August posts yet. And then on Monday I worked until 9:45 and then on Tuesday I worked at 7 so wound up on not having time. But enough of my excuses...

So, one of my favorite Audrey Hepburn movies is Paris When It Sizzles, which, incidentally, I believe should have been titled The Girl Who Stole the Eiffel Tower (the title is symbolic, of course; she doesn't actually steal the Eiffel Tower). And this is one of my favorite scenes. It's so wicked funny!